Keith Fullerton Whitman has, in the past five years,
established himself as a truly eclectic musician with
an impressive ability to switch from full-on hardcore
drum’n’bass to the most introverted and
organic music. Nothing seems to complex for him to tackle,
and, as his career gathers pace and he gains recognition,
he is slowly becoming one of the most important American
musicians of his generation.
A man with influences ranging from free improvisation
and psychedelic rock to post World War II avant-garde
orchestral music and early experimental electronic music,
Keith Fullerton Whitman is a difficult man to pigeonhole.
Born in New Jersey, he spent most of his formative years
collecting records and torturing sound programs before
moving to Boston in 1991 to study Computer Music at
the Berklee College Of Music where he formed a variety
of rock-orientated bands. After graduating in 1996,
Whitman set out to propagate his work under a variety
of pseudonyms, of which Hrvatski remains the most prominent
manifestation, eventually setting up his own imprint,
Reckankreuzungs Klankewerkzeuge Recordings Limited of
Cambridge, in 1998. The label’s first release,
Attention: Cats, collected a series of tracks
attributed to a variety of artists, which all turned
out to be simple aliases, but it is with the first Hrvatski
album, Oiseaux 96-98 that Whitman’s work
started getting noticed. Three years later, Planet Mu
published his second album proper, Swarm
& Dither, while his first outing as Keith
Fullerton Whitman was getting released on Chicago-based
Kranky. More organic than his Hrvatski records, the
critically acclaimed Playthroughs expended
on the 21:30 For Acoustic Guitar EP released
earlier the same year, gaining the man much respect
across the board.
Three years on and only a few months after the release
of the vinyl-only Antithesis, Whitman returns
with another LP-only, Schöner Flußengel.
As its predecessor, this album collects a series of
recordings made while working on other records. The
project started when Whitman took a lecturer position
at Harvard and was able to access the university’s
sound labs. Departing slightly from previous work, this
album sees Whitman experimenting with acoustic and electronic
instrumentation on darker and grittier backdrops. As
on Antithesis, he builds his compositions around
multiple drones and loops, incorporating voices, clarinet,
record players, guitars and other sound sources within
highly textured electronic constructions, yet, here,
the atmosphere is darker and more complex as Whitman
creates sharp organic structures on which he weaves
beautiful melodies and disturbing sounds. On Bewusstseinserweiternd
Tonaufnahme (Eine Teile), he works a long and ample
drone, which evokes Buddhist chants, over the ten minutes
of the tracks, imperceptibly incorporating more electronic
elements as the track progresses, before switching to
an impressive aquatic theme for Bewusstseinserweiternd
Tonaufnahme (Zweiter Teile).
The highly detailed sonic elements used all throughout
this record are typical of Whitman’s compulsive
obsession for impeccable sonic landscapes. Yet, as the
mood on Schöner Flußengel is resolutely
more experimental than on previous recordings, the palette
becomes even more pivotal to the overall coherence of
the record. Whitman doesn’t lose focus on the
capacity for his music to convey emotions and Schöner
Flußengel appears every bit as accessible.
On the liner-notes for Antithesis, he was evoking his
love for chaotic early Pink Floyd recordings, the ‘orchestrated
beauty of Mussorgksy and Debussy’ and the energy
of Rudolph Grey and Arto Lindsay. Here, he comes tantalisingly
close to some of his influences but equally manages
to remain fiercely unique, modern and singular. Despite
the low-key release of this album (only 1,000 copies
are being made available), Schöner Flußengel
provides yet another essential insight into Keith Fullerton
Whitman’s seemingly limitless talent. A truly
magnificent record.
4.8/5 |
